The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-21
VARIATIONS IN STATURE.
An the Way from the DIVERT to the
Giaat in Human Form.
From the P2pa lar Science Mon.,ly.

Gialt in Human Form.
F,o,l the Pom lar Science MonIly
The study of human stature involves sew
oral questions Of more important in
crest tnan that of mere theory or
curiosity 1t may aid us in learning
,rbether the human race is really
Lccenerating, as some persons assert, by de-
+arminin; V ht Their our ancestors III heroic
and prehistoric times had the superior
,,b,sical proves that is often
ppscribed to them. An opinion was
current in tho last century that
c1,. ancestors at some time in the past wore
the EQUALS OF superiors i'll size to the largest
'I,en now to be found NJ Henrion pre-
santei to the Academic DIES Inscriptions in
Ills a memoir on the variations in the size
of man from the beginning of the world to
+hp Christian era, in which Adam was given
f5S feet 0 inches, and Eve Is feet 90 inches.
BIt after the first pair the human race. in
his imagination, suffered a regular decrease,
80 tLat Noah was only 100 feet high, while
Abraham shrank down to % feet,
Moses to - feet. the mighty Her
ruIcs to 10 feet 81 inches, and
Alexander the Great to a bare 81 feet.
The complaint about the degeneracy of
the human race is not new, but dates as far
hack as the time of Homer, at least, for the
men OF lis day were not like the heroes of
whom he sang. 1t is not confirmed, but is
rontrad1cted by al the tangible facts, and
thr,e are not a few. Human remains that
are exhumed after having roposed in the
grave for many years, as in the Cata-
Combs of Paris, have nothing gigantic
oI0ut them. The armor, the curiasses,
and the casqucs OF the warriors Of
tro middle ages can be worn by mod
ern soldiers; and many of the Knights
sujts ;soaii be too small for the cuirassiers
OF the European armies. Yet they were
worn by inc selected men, who We're better
fed. stronger, aud more robust than the
rest Of the population. The bones of the
ancient G.tus, which are uncovered in the
excavations of tumuli, while they are of
large Dimensions, arc comparable with those
of the cNi5Uing populations Of many places in
France
The Egyptian munmies are the remains
OF persons Of small or medium stature as
are also tie Peruvian and Mexican num-
mics and the aummieS and bones found in
the ancient monuments of India and Per
sja And even the most ancient relics we
uossess of individuals Of the human species,
tho bones of men who lived III the tertiary
period. an epoch the remote antiquity Of
which goes back for hundreds of centuries
do not show any important differences in
Tie SIZES VI tIlC VI 1iIliUlNG anu VI Uut lllOu
ELI man.
Considerable differences viii be found to
exist, when we compare the statures of the
various races OF mankind; and it is the ex-
GggeratiOn of this fact that has given rise to
the legends of dwarf and giant peoples. In
diyiduals of the supposed dwarf races would
appear quite large il compared with real
dWaris These races are not dwa@fs, but
simply small races.
"tho giant Winckelmeier, 260 meters. A
cuira8ser. l. 50 meters. A man of the aver
age size, l.G0 meters. A little soldier 154
meters. The dwarf Borulawsky, O. 70 meters.
Aneu-born babe, 0.50 meters A meter is
30M inches, as nearly as can be expressed
without the use of decimalS"
If we may believe the ancient authors,
large number of giants and giantesseS at
tanned extraordinary stature, even for per-
sons of that class. Pliny mentions the giant
Gabbara, who was nine feet nine inches tall,
and two other giants, Poison and Secundilla,
who were half foot taller Garopius tells of
a young giantesS who was 10 feet high, and
Lecat of Scotch giant 10 feet inches in
height But we may take it for granted
that these figures are greatly exaggerated,
while we have a right to regard as authen-
tic giants whose height runs up to feet
inches. A giant s feet high was exhibited
in Rouen in 1865 A Swedish peasant, cited
by Button, was s feet inches in height, and
the stature of the Finnish giant Cujanus, was
the same; while Frederick William, King of
Prussia, had a guard of nearly equal stat
ure. The giant Giile de Trent, in the T'yrol
and one of the guards of the Duke of Bruins
wick, were more than feet inches in
height The Grecian giant Amanab, now
Is years old, is feet inches tall; the Chi
nese giant, Chang, Sfeet inches. The Aus
TRAN giant Winckelmeir, who was recently
exhibited in Paris, measuring So feet, may
be regarded as a specimen of the highest
stature attained by the human spe-
ceS. At the opposite extremes
may be found numerous dwarfs not
more than 20 inches, and some even as little
as 10 and even II inches in height; but,such
dWarts are only monsters with atrophied
limbs or twisted backbones, or stunted in
1ants, whose age is usually exaggerated by
their BarnumS. One of the most remark
able dwarfs on record was the celebrated
Barulawsky, who was born in 1889 and died
III 1857, who was never more than Is inches
III height, was perfect in every limb and pro-
portion. and was bright and intelligent.
The mean between these two extremes of
stature is about 5 feet 515 inches, and the
Mlfcrence between them is feet % inches.
The mean height is nearly the same with
the average stature of Frenchmen. We
give an illustration embodying a compare
i've representation Of these extremes with
tllfee intervals between them. The portrait
o. Borulawsky is after contemporary en-
craving, that of Winckelmeier from a recent
photograph. Beside them are placed
newborn infant 20 inches, an infantry sol
olcr OF minimum stature q feet | inch, a
man OF average siHo Is feet incbes) and
cUraSslcr of Is feet. The illustration COM
prlseS all the important variations in human
Stature.
Tho conditions that affect tho stature of
populations and races of men may all be de
S'rloed under one general head-that of nu-
ulllon. Tho size of Il population, race, or
0Sroup OF individuals living for several gem
uatlohS III the same conditions of environ
lueht aud resources is ITOportionate to its
nutrition. Coming to particulars, we find
.Htt TINS nutrition depends (D on the aptl-
lGde Tor assimilation, when is a question of
Vtlhlate, and ~ upon the facility with which
ut people cau obtain quantity Of food III
proportion To their power of assimilation.
IL was long beloved that climate alone had
aEreat influence on stature, and, in fact, If
we regard the white or light-colored races,
we remark that the stature is less in CHI
mates o. extreme temperature than in tent
geFate attitudes. In tho extremely cold
hretic regions the Lnpps, E5quimaux and
5io3Alan1ers are very small, but coming
io"h MO more temperate regions and more
G'"le countries we find much lGrger races,
IKE Lhe NorScmen, russians, AngIo-SaHons
nlIu North-uermans in Europe, and
tHe CaIaCianS nud Indians in America